Staff in The Office frown and Tim winces as the Labour leadership candidate asks for questions from journalists - only to find they’ve left the room.

The launch of the Wallasey MP’s leadership bid was completely overshadowed by a bigger shock announcement by Andrea Leadsom - midway through Angela Eagle’s speech.

Andrea Leadsom stunned Westminster by revealing she was quitting the race to be Conservative leader, paving the way for Theresa May to replace David Cameron as prime minister.

The unfortunate clash left the likes of ITV’s Robert Peston and Channel 4’s Michael Crick scurrying to the exit

Former Shadow Cabinet Minister Angela Eagle launches her bid for the Labour leadership at a press conference at Savoy Place on July 11, 2016 in London. (Photo: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The video clip, remixed by the Red Labour group, sees the MP left awkwardly talking to the air as she asks: “BBC anyone? No? Okay. Robert Peston, where are you?”

Robert Peston later tweeted to apologise to her, saying: “@angelaeagle very sorry to run away from your launch. You will understand why. Don’t think it was @andrealeadsom deliberately upstaging you.”

In her leadership announcement, Ms Eagle said she had no choice but to stand against Mr Corbyn because Britain was in danger of becoming a “one-party Tory state” under his leadership

Insisting she could unite the party, Ms Eagle said the anti-EU win in the referendum was a wake-up call showing that voters felt they had been ignored for too long.

Her announcement looks set to trigger civil war within the party, with Mr Corbyn likely to fight to ensure that his name is on the ballot paper for a vote of the party’s members, among whom he has strong support.

She said: “I am not here for a Labour Party that just takes part. I’m here to win. I will not stand back and allow Britain to become a one-party Tory state. We owe too much to the millions in our country who look to us to help them make a better life.”